York, a city in northeastern Great Britain, brings to mind ghosts of past centuries. When you travel to York, you will uncover Viking and Roman-era ruins, ruins of an Abbey, cobblestoned streets (or gates as they are called,) and remnants of palatial life by earlier English monarchs. York is a walled city, and reminds me […]
Some know Bath, a city in South West England, as the home of Jane Austen in the early 1800s. She used it as a setting in her novels Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Others may recall the Wife of Bath, one of Chaucer’s spicier characters, in his 14th Century Middle English classic The Canterbury Tales. From […]
With all there is to see and do in London, England, I still find time to explore its neighborhoods. Some look newer, some look older, but all have unique qualities to them. London is very walkable, or you can take the Underground, taxi, or a double-decker red bus to get around. In the next few […]
Much like the places seen in the National Parks series, diving and snorkeling locations can be great areas to vacation. Wherever it may be around the world, there is usually quite a lot of both flora and fauna to observe and admire beneath the water’s surface. These places can look like gardens, mountainsides, or sandy […]
It’s time to explore two of the Tuamotu Islands in the South Pacific – Rangiroa and Fakarava. If you choose to visit one of these islands or others in the Tuamotu Archipelago, chances are you will find some places all to yourself. The largest, Rangiroa, has less than 3,000 residents. To your delight, marine life […]
As part two of three in a series of French Polynesian islands, this post highlights more of the Society Island archipelago. Located in the South Pacific Ocean, the Society Islands consist of 14 islands stretching in a relatively straight line, much like the Hawaiian Islands. In the last post, we viewed Tahiti Island, the capital […]
I took these photographs of Tahiti on my first ever cruise ship trip. Because I home-ported in Hawaii, I figured I should take a ship somewhere close, so I took the Paul Gauguin through the Society Islands and Tuamotus. I flew from Honolulu to Papeete, stayed a few days, played some golf, then boarded my […]
If you travel what is left of the historic US Route 66, through eight states by bike or auto, you will see what a good part of America looked like before jet airplanes and interstates. There still are towns with diners, gas stations, “roadside attractions,” and the like. Officially decommissioned in 1985, much of its […]
Everyone got the day off of work, and Tuesday’s Mardi Gras means the start of abstinence of some kind until Easter Sunday. The dates of these holidays this year appear to be a yin and yang situation, or a life in balance. At least we can try, and hope for the best. Speaking of hope, […]
Bandelier National Monument is close to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Yet, it belongs with the national parks that trail through the corridor of New Mexico and Colorado. This corridor was populated ages ago by the Ancients. Mysteriously, they disappeared and left no record of why. But, you can still see their construction work at places […]